Steps to Resolve Your Tradesman Conflict

Finding yourself in the middle of a conflict with a tradesman can be a very worrying time for any customer who needs work carried out on their home. Often, people are unsure of where to go when they find themselves in this situation and many stick it out because they feel that having signed a contract, they must remain in it until the end of the work. For most, this leads to a long period of stress, unhappiness and a general sense of unease. Our homes are our castles and anyone who pays to have someone in to carry out work usually wants the work conducted to a high standard. This often leads to most people just ‘making do’ as they may feel they don’t know enough about the job to comment, or may worry that conflict with their tradesman will leave them high and dry. Ideally, resolving the conflict is the best idea – it saves you looking for another tradesman and also means the work will hopefully be completed to your original briefing. There are some tried and tested steps involved in resolving conflict with a tradesman and trying these should help ease the situation and get the work completed.

Steps to Try for Conflict Resolution

• 1. Speak to the tradesman

For most people, this is the first step in sorting out any issues that have arisen during the time you’re having work carried out in your home. Your tradesman is employed by you to conduct a professional service and if you feel there’s an issue, don’t let it slide. The longer you leave the problem, the bigger it will become. If you’re unhappy with something, go direct to the tradesman and speak about it. He or she may be completely unaware of the issue or may simply be trying to avoid it, either way you’ll have made it known and it’s up to them to deal with it from that point on.

• 2. Speak to the tradesman’s boss or firm

If your tradesman is part of a larger firm or has a boss to report to, contact them directly. Most large firms won’t want their good name being tarnished by one tradesman, so will often speak to him or her directly on your behalf or send you around a new tradesman to deal with. You’ll find that this can be a good way of getting your tradesman to deal with you more effectively as they won’t want to lose their job, or have their own boss upset with their standard of work.

• 3. Contact a Trade Association

If you have employed a reputable tradesman, you should already be aware of the trade association he or she is part of. All trades people who are considered reliable should be part of a governing body or trade association and their membership most likely relies on them providing good service to customers and effective ways of dealing with conflict resolution. If you’re having no luck dealing with the tradesman on a personal level, contact their trade association and explain the problem. Most of the time, the trade association will then contact the tradesman themselves and get the situation rectified for you. Some trade associations can also provide you with arbitration so that you have a mediator between yourself and the tradesman you employed.

• 4. Speak to your local Citizens Advice Bureau

The Citizens Advice Bureau is a wonderful source of information for consumer rights. They can provide you with information on who to contact regarding any conflict resolution you may have . They will normally know who deals with the specific trade you’re having issues with and can provide often free advice from solicitors or mediators who will investigate the issue further for you and outline what rights you have.

• 5. Contact the Trading Standards Authority

If you’re still unable to obtain any kind of resolve through all the other methods mentioned above, try contacting Trading Standards, They will investigate the matter for you and will provide you with helpful legal advice and a plan of action for resolving the issue with your tradesman or providing you with someone else to finish the job. Ideally, you’ll have reached some kind of resolution before this stage, but it’s helpful to know that Trading Standards are there if you need them.


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Getting the End Result

Ultimately, when it comes to getting the work done, that is the most important thing for most people. Both yourself and your tradesman will want the work completed so that the job is finished and you can go on with your life and he or she can move onto the next job. Hopefully you’ll never reach the stage where you need help in resolving conflict with a tradesman, but if you do, following the steps above may help. If you try to have respect for the tradesman, always pay on time, always adhere to your side of the contract and always give them the time and space to finish the work, most will be in and out without too much disruption.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Spot a Scammer lets you describe what a trader has said or done and find out whether it sounds like a scam. Try it now →